Closet Space
by Blondejoke101
Summary: A teenager wakes up to disturbing noises coming from his closet. He goes to investigate what's making those noises. The rating's K I think, but if you think otherwise, please let me know and I'll fix it.
1. Zangetsu's Advice

**A/N: This is my first ever Bleach fanfiction, so please tell me how I did. A little review would be nice. I own nothing from Bleach, and have only watched up to episode 106 (so far as when I wrote this story) so please tell me if I got anything wrong. I tried to keep the characters true to form, while leaving places where you could fill in what happened however you like. If you get confused just tell me and I'll try to clarify my thoughts behind what's going on here. And now that I'm rambling, let's get on with the story!**

~*~

"_Go to her. She needs you." the raven haired man said, his black clothing billowing around him from his perch on an oddly placed peg. "Follow your heart and you won't do wrong. Your heart and subconscious knows her needs better than you would ever believe."_

The dream faded from his mind as the teenager woke to the sounds of badly suppressed sobs coming from his closet. Any normal person would have thought that the monster in their closet was having their sibling for a midnight snack, but Ichigo Kurosaki was not a normal person and the thing crying in his closet was not a monster. In fact her name was Rukia Kuchiki, and this was the first time Ichigo had ever had the misfortune of hearing her cry.

He slipped out of bed, the soft padding of his feet the only sound he made as he made his way across the room. Slowly he pulled open the closet door, so as not to startle the crying girl. AS he got the door opened as full as it would allow, the sobbing halted. "What is the meaning of this?" Rukia asked him sharply, rubbing her face in a way where if he was as unobservant as he usually was at this time of night he would think she was just rubbing the sleep away. "It's one o'clock at night, there's not a hollow within feeling distance and my phone isn't going off. So why have you decided to wake me up?"

"I know you better than that Rukia and you're the one that woke _me_ up. What's wrong?" he asked, the usual snippy tone he used when he talked to her fading into caring at the last question.

If she detected the fading, she didn't show it. "Nothing. Now go back to bed." She said as she tried to shut the door and wipe her face of the tears that refused to quit at the same time.

"Ichigo slipped a hand in-between the door and the wall stopping it from shutting all the way and opened it back up. "That's a lie and I know you know I know that. Now come out here and talk to me or I'm going to come in there. If I'm going to be awoken by someone, I think I should be able to ask why."

"You just did, now go away, Kurosaki."

"Last name huh? So does that mean you're not coming out?"

"Just go away." Her voice broke as she turned away, shrinking into the corner farthest away from him, hoping that ignoring him would make him do what she asked. But Ichigo Kurosaki was nothing if not stubborn.

"Guess I'm coming in then." He said offhandedly. Finally he managed to get in the tight closet space, though it took a lot of maneuvering to be able to do it. He sat there cross-legged for a minute facing the shinigami who was still turned away from him, despite the jostling of her makeshift bed that barely fit in the little closet. After a few moments of silent observation he realized her shoulders were shaking with more suppressed sobs. "Rukia, come here." He said softly, leaning over and pulling her around into his arms and lap. She tried to fight his grip but wasn't able to gain much leverage in the tight closet and eventually she ended up sobbing into his neck.

For once, Ichigo could find nothing to say to the shinigami who had changed his life so dramatically. He wanted so badly to make everything better, but the words wouldn't come. How could he tell her everything was going to be alright when he had no idea what she was even crying about, for all he knew that might be an empty promise. What could be so bad as to make the hardened Kuchiki cry like that in the first place? He remembered what Zangetsu had told him, and realized if he couldn't find the words to say, it was because his subconscious was withholding them from him. He didn't fight it, and let the silence, broken only by the sobs, stretch on.

Presently he realized that his right hand was moving without his knowledge, rubbing up and down Rukia's back as his left remained clutching her shaking shoulders tightly. Slowly her sobs subsided as her breathing evened out as she slipped into peaceful slumber.

Realizing he was never going to make it out of that closet without waking her he settled into a more comfortable position. The closet space was much too small for him to really lay down so he settled for stretching out his legs and slowly and carefully shifting Rukia down so she was at least laying down with her head in his lap, in what he hoped was a comfortable position for her. He twisted his body around just enough so that his back was being supported by the corner just opposite of the door and tried to get comfortable. He fell asleep, stroking Rukia's head with his right hand, while his other made a sort of pillow for his head against the hard wall.

~*~

It was a very sore and quiet Ichigo who walked into school the next day with an equally quiet but irritated looking Rukia.

"Hello, Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san! Oh, my, gosh! What happened? You guys look tired, irritated, and in you're case sore, Kurosaki-sun!" Orihime said, running up to them.

Rukia was struggling to come up with an answer, Ichigo saw. "We just had a demon to face last night, is all." The words flew from his mouth without him even bidding them to come, once again proving that Zangetsu was right judging by the relieved look that crossed Rukia's face.

"I would've sensed a demon, if one was anywhere in my area, why didn't you call me? I could've come and helped, and you wouldn't be in pain right now Kurosaki-kun." Fear flashed through Rukia's eyes, at the thought of Orihime finding out.

"It wasn't the type of demon you are thinking of, Inoue-san. I didn't feel the need to call anyone else to help with something I hope I did a good job of handling on my own." It didn't seem like Ichigo was talking to Orihime any more, but more to Rukia. "And I'll gladly take this pain ten times over to help eradicate that demon. I'll do whatever it takes."

Rukia nodded her head slowly whilst staring at her shoes, not daring to make eye contact with either of them before she snapped her head up to grin at them both, all traces of irritation gone. "He did a very good job last night, though I think he deserves to live with his pain just a little bit longer before you heal him Inoue-san. Scaring me half to death this morning deserves a little punishment." She winked at Orihime before walking towards the classroom.

"Hey! I apologized at least!" Ichigo shouted to her retreating back, before chasing after her, leaving a baffled Orihime in his wake, wondering what had happened over the course of the last 10 hours.


	2. Orihime's Observations

**A/N: This is basically a filler chapter. Rukia needed time before she could talk about her dream, so this chapter is more about the effects of what happened between Ichigo and Rukia last night, what with her crying on his shoulder something had to change between them, and I kinda wanted to show that a little bit, so enjoy!**

Through out the morning, Orihime came to realize that something had changed between Rukia and Ichigo. Something subtle. She wasn't the only one of the group to notice either. Ishida had brought it up but all she could do was shrug. She knew it was something in the way they acted towards each other but she couldn't quite figure out what. It bugged her to no end.

At lunch Rukia got a call. "There's a hollow near the park, Ichigo. We must leave at once. I'm thinking you, me, and Inoue-san?"

"Sure, let's go. Ishida, cover for us please."

"Sure?"

"Thank you." Rukia said, jumping up. She took off with Ichigo hot on her heels. It was all Orihime could do to keep up, and eventually she lagged behind, hindered by the fact that Ichigo didn't hide his human body very well, and she had to re-hide it.

By the time she got to the park the hollow was gone and Rukia was hovering over Ichigo. From a distance Orihime could tell that Rukia was using kidō to heal one of Ichigo's wounds, and from just a little bit closer she could hear them bickering. She didn't know what, but something inside her held her back from going close enough for them to realize she was there. Maybe it was because Rukia looked pissed.

"Ichigo, if you hadn't jumped in the way, you wouldn't be hurt right now." Rukia said angrily as she knelt over his wound. He appeared to be slashed across the stomach, though shallow he was still in moderate pain.

"I was... I didn't want to see you get hurt." He said shocked at her anger.

"I would have moved." she growled.

"You looked distracted, I had no way of knowing whether or not you would have actually moved." Worry filled his eyes.

She looked down, back to his stomach. "So I might have gotten hurt, so what? It wouldn't have been the first time, nor would it have been the last." She said firmly.

"Same here, and besides I never want to see you in pain if it can be helped, no matter how fleeting. Last night scared me Rukia, more than you can imagine." He said quietly.

"I thought I told you we were never going to talk about that again."

"Well we're talking about it, just tell me what that was last night." A hint of desperation laced through the get used to it tone he had adopted.

"It's not going to happen again."

"As far as I can tell, you woke up crying from a bad dream. And bad dreams have an uncanny way of repeating themselves over and over and over again. Trust me, I know. I still dream about the night my mom died. Please, tell me about last night, so at least that way I won't be so helpless the next time it happens."

She stood up, crossing her arms across her chest. "Why won't you talk to me?" He asked, standing up and loosely grabbing her by the arms. He stared into her eyes expectantly, a frown on his face and his eyebrows creased with worry.

Orihime crept a little closer.

Suddenly Rukia's whole demeanor changed as she dropped to the ground while her face adopted a look of interest. Ichigo had yet to put his bankai away, and the black metal glinted in the sunlight when Rukia picked it up. "This is quite a unique bankai, as far as bankai go. Looks are very deceiving when it comes to this thing. Isn't that right, Orihime-san?"

Orihime, who was still trying to get closer, jumped up. Her spirit pressure must have alerted Rukia to her presence. "Quite right, Rukia-san. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, but someone didn't hide their body very well. _Cough Ichigo Cough._ It looks like you took care of the hollow fairly well, not a scratch on either of you." She tried to conceal the fact she had been there much longer than they must have thought.

"Ichigo decided to play hero and got a scratch on his stomach, but I already healed it. Sorry we drug you along for nothing."

Ichigo's head dropped, foiled in his attempt to find out what was wrong. "Lets get back to school before Ishida gets in trouble." Rukia handed him his sword and he returned it back to shikai state before starting to walk back towards where he left his body.

~*~

At the end of the day, everyone went home. Orihime had related what she herd to Ishida during crafts club but they were unable to brainstorm anything beyond "something happened between them last night." They even told Sado, who said nothing on the matter other than "let it play out for a while."

Meanwhile Rukia and Ichigo were back at their own house, doing their homework. Ichigo tried many times to restart their conversation from earlier, but no words would come to his mouth. He remembered what Zangetsu said, about the heart and subconscious knowing what would be best and when and decided not to worry about it. _Rukia probably just needs some time_, he realized, _she'll tell me when she's ready, and not any sooner._

They went to bed that night at the usual time, though neither of them could get to sleep. IT was hours before they both drifted off.


End file.
